Diverse Attractions, Edinburgh
> Diverse Attractions, Edinburgh
Terrorism is a running theme at The Fringe this year - or perhaps I should say a running gag.
You can't leave the house without some comic demanding your driving licence and sentencing you to death for having a squint - and there are no depths which their zest for tastelessness will not plumb: imagine, if you will, Terrorist! The Musical.
But unique among the throng is Robert Crighton, with his new show, Fantasy Terrorist League. This is a serious piece of drama in which an ordinary bloke goes into a bar, crosses a powerful man in love, and as a result finds himself in a Stasi-like interrogation, being forced to own up to a terrorist act which he not only did not commit, but which never happened.
Sounds far-fetched? Maybe, as it raises all kinds of questions about civil liberties and possible misuse of the law. In an extremely persuasive performance, shaven-headed Crighton veered between savage, paranoid and grotesque as he incarnated first one character and then another. I was reminded of early Berkoff.
Strong stuff from one of Suffolk's leading lights.
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